USA Today: Outrage pending over Net patents

Mar 08, 2000, 17:45 (3 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Elizabeth Weise)

"The problem with patent law - and the problem for the people at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office who enforce it - is that it's a 19th century construct trying to deal with 21st century issues...."

"Which is why everyone started yelling Friday when it was announced that the patent office had granted Amazon.com a patent on its affiliate program. That's the deal whereby if you put a link to Amazon on your Web site and someone clicks on it, goes to Amazon and buys something, you get a cut."

"That's news to the 60 or so companies gathering next week in Miami Beach for a conference on affiliate programming. It's currently estimated that up to 20% of Web site sales come via affiliates, says Herby Olschewski, convention chairman for AffiliateForce.com."

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[ Link redirected from NewsBytes to USA Today when talkback noted that story had disappeared into NewsBytes pay area - LT ed. ]

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